HT & Movies Posts - Page 25

Here's some news on the lighter side: At a press screening over here in the USA, it would appear that a projectionist is a bigger foe to the Avengers than, say, the evil god Loki. The new film "The Avengers" is already out overseas and garnering rave reviews is gearing up to hit US theaters this Friday.

As a press screening for the new movie, a projectionist accidentally hit the delete button. One would think that some sort of safeguards would be in place but, alas, it appears that this movie file is just like any other file. No word has been given on exactly why it couldn't be recovered or why there was no backup.

This screw up resulted in all of the press having to wait in excess of 2 hours while a new copy was downloaded. The fact that they just download another copy is actually somewhat ironic with all of the piracy claims being thrown around accusing other people of doing the same. I realize that they pay to show the movie, but it still is quite ironic.

The plot of the movie, according to IMDB, is that "Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. brings together a team of super humans to form The Avengers to help save the Earth from Loki and his army." It's a movie that I can't wait to see. I just hope that the projectionist in my theater doesn't accidentally hit the delete button!

Ok, ok, 48fps wasn't well received by critics and users from Peter Jackson's 'Hobbit' footage, but that doesn't mean he's sitting in a room crying about it. Most viewers' issues with the footage was that it looked too realistic, or that it felt like it were shot on video.

On top of this, viewers' blamed the blemishes on actors and sets which were all-too-visible without the help of motion blur. Jackson has insisted that the footage lacked special effects and color correction, and that showing the 48fps trailer was too short to judge the increased frame rate.

Jackson has now stated there will be no 48fps trailer, boo. Jackson also adds that he is now "very aware of the strobing, the flicker and the artifacts" when he's watching regular 24fps cinema. This mirrors what I've said before, yes it's hard to go to higher fps, but once you've been there for a while and go back - the old 24fps viewing just feels really bad.

Goosebumps. The latest Dark Knight Rises trailer is here, and boy is it smashing. It features some completely never-before-seen footage from the movie, and we can now form what the movie will be about from that trailer, shown below:

The trailer really shows off some excellent scenes, and from what we've seen so far, the Dark Knight will well and truly Rise once more. The new trailer is much darker than the rest, showing Batman's darkest hour, and more is shown of Anne Hathaway's Catwoman, which is nice. Not a big personal fan of her, but I think she'll gel with the movie very well.

I'm more looking forward to seeing how Joseph Gordon-Levitt goes in the movie, I'm a huge fan of his and I'm excited to see how he slots into the movie. I hope he gets some generous screen time. You also have to remember: The Dark Knight Rises is only a few months from release! It's close now. With all of The Avengers hype, some can get lost in between these trailers.

Peter Jackson is pushing the envelope on a near-century worth of 24fps film technology by shooting his upcoming epic 'The Hobbit' in 48 frames per second. Jackson has unveiled his first public tease of the movie at the CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas.

First up, you have to remember everyone is used to the 80-year-old 24fps footage in films, but Jackson has doubled this up to 48fps and it can be quite weird for people. I have a friend who has a Panasonic Plasma and never used his motion smoothing tech on his HDTV, I flicked it on for him and he hated it. I said to stick with it for two weeks, which is something I did years ago. He will never go back and has now purchased a 120Hz LCD screen for his gaming rig.

This technology takes adjusting, your eyes are used to seeing all footage in movies at 24fps, so jumping up to 48fps feels too smooth - too, unrealistic. Panning shots look ultra-smooth, but so smooth it looks completely fake. Public reaction of the 48fps footage was strange, where one projectionist has compared it to made-for-TV gear, while others compared it to Mexican soap-operas and TruMotion.

Sony has begun shipping what it calls its most advanced Blu-ray player of the year, the BDP-S790. The Sony BDP-S790 should hit stores on May 6, and pre-orders are starting now, with the player setting you back just $250.

How does the BDP-S790 stand out? Well, it sports a dual-core processor, which gives it much more performance than most Blu-ray players on the market. It can also upscale video to 4K resolution to match current 4K projectors and future 4K TVs. The dual-core processor also gives the player the ability to convert 2D video to 3D in real-time, 16-bit image processing and overall quicker response.

Wi-Fi is built directly into BDP-S790, which can access both the Sony Entertainment Network as well as multiple movie and music services including Amazon Instant Video, Flixter, Netflix, Slacker, Pandora, and Vudu. Social networking doesn't get missed out, with Facebook and Twitter sharing as well as DLNA media sharing included with the BDP-S790.

IKEA, how do you do it? Well, anyone familiar with the Sweden-based company would agree that their designs are simple, cheap and effective. You don't go walking into IKEA expecting the world for chump change. You expect your chump change to change your world. Your world being defined by the change in your pocket, and IKEA, have done it again.

Enter "Uppleva", an all-in-one TV and stand with storage built-in cooperation with China's TCL Multimedia. It also sports a Blu-ray/DVD player, surround sound and a wireless subwoofer. Details and specs on the TV are not available at the moment, but Uppleva also features USB ports, four HDMI ports, FM radio and internet connectivity.

Uppleva should come in various colors and designs, and should be popular for smaller houses, units, apartments, etc. Uppleva starts at 6,500 Swedish crowns (roughly $960). Not too bad considering what you get in the package itself.

The Internet is the future, and the future is Google. We all know this, but how will it happen? Well, YouTube have just announced a content deal with Paramount which will see 500 new movies being made available to the popular video-sharing site. Google Play, which is formerly known as the Android Market, will also enjoy the boost in additional content.

We don't know which movies will be included in the new content deal, but the content is said to be added over the next few weeks to both YouTube and Google Play's movie libraries. At the moment, U.S. and Canada will benefit from the injection of flicks, which means there should be some exclusivity, for now.

YouTube can now rest easy, being capable of boasting that they have content deals with five out of the six major movie studios, and its rental library now proud parents to over 9,000 movies.

HBO Go hasn't exactly rolled out to connected TV devices too well over the past few months, but things could change for Xbox 360 and Comcast customers. They may already have access to some of the HBO Go content through the Xfinity TV app, but this could change soon enough.

Multichannel News sources are saying that access could open up this week, now that "other business issues" between Comcast and HBO including how subscriber information is handled with third parties has been solved. There's no word on streaming access for Time Warner Cable customers, or access on Roku and Samsung-based devices.

For now, the news should excite a few, and hopefully we see more of this type of rollout to connected TV devices. The future of TV is going to be things similar to this, so I'm enjoying the change we're experiencing right now. Even if I'm locked away all the way down in Australia without an Xbox 360, or Comcast, or HBO Go. Still good news for those of you with a 360 and as a Comcast customer.

Google TV is set to launch in Europe, and other parts of the world in September. Sony will be manufacturing and selling two different Google TV-based consumer products, according to a report by Les Echos via GigaOM.

If you want to jump on the Google TV train, the standard set-top box will retail for around $266, with a premium model featuring a Blu-ray player will have a $399 price attached to it. Echos does not that Google TV is confirmed to launch in France and could also hit Germany, Spain and the U.K. simultaneously.

On the remote control for the unit, we could see a Google Play button that will direct users to Google's app and content stores, which would be a big change and quite easy for users to get into. Sony are also jumping on board, where they'll bundle their Music Unlimited on-demand library with each system. Google is expected to launch a second-generation of Google TV products later in the year, which will have ARM-based processors instead of the more expensive Intel-based chips.

Pioneer have just updated their 2012 AV receiver line up with two additional Elite-branded receivers, first up we have the VSX-42 which is priced at $450 and the second one at $650 - the VSX-60. Both AV receivers sport six HDMI inputs on the back, Ethernet, video scaling, optional Bluetooth ($99) with A2DP, AirPlay, DLNA, Panadora, and iOS or Android apps.

The VSX-60 is a bit beefier, with 10 more watts per channel, 7.2 instead of 7.1 support, optional Wi-Fi, and a better video processor. The VSX-60 also sports a HDMI input on the front of the receiver, is SiriusXM ready and adds a bunch of video and audio enhancements such as Stream Smoother, Advanced Video Adjust and a few others.

Pioneer are making these units cheap enough that even if you have an existing amp, you might consider upgrading. This includes myself.